Creating the workload cluster

Generating the cluster.yaml

The clusterctl generate cluster command returns a YAML template for creating a workload cluster. It generates a YAML file named my-cluster.yaml with a predefined list of Cluster API objects (Cluster , Machines , MachineDeployments , etc.) to be deployed in the current namespace.

shell

clusterctl generate cluster my-cluster --kubernetes-version v1.29.4 --control-plane-machine-count=3 --worker-machine-count=3 > my-cluster.yaml

note

With the --target-namespace flag, you can specify a different target namespace.

Run the clusterctl generate cluster --help command for more information.

note

Please note that ready-to-use Kubernetes configurations, production-ready node images, kubeadm configuration, cluster add-ons like CNI, and similar services need to be separately prepared or acquired to ensure a comprehensive and secure Kubernetes deployment. This is where Syself Autopilot comes into play, taking on these challenges to offer you a seamless, worry-free Kubernetes experience. Feel free to contact us via e-mail: [email protected].

Applying the workload cluster

The following command applies the configuration of the workload cluster:

shell

kubectl apply -f my-cluster.yaml

Accessing the workload cluster

The cluster will now start provisioning. You can check status with:

shell

kubectl get cluster

You can also view the cluster and its resources at a glance by running:

shell

clusterctl describe cluster my-cluster

To verify the first control plane is up, use the following command:

shell

kubectl get kubeadmcontrolplane

note

The control plane won’t be ready until we install a CNI in the next step.

After the first control plane node is up and running, we can retrieve the kubeconfig of the workload cluster with:

shell

export CAPH_WORKER_CLUSTER_KUBECONFIG=/tmp/workload-kubeconfig clusterctl get kubeconfig my-cluster > $CAPH_WORKER_CLUSTER_KUBECONFIG

Deploying the CNI solution

Cilium is used as a CNI solution in this guide. The following command deploys it to your cluster:

shell

helm repo add cilium https://helm.cilium.io/ KUBECONFIG=$CAPH_WORKER_CLUSTER_KUBECONFIG helm upgrade --install cilium cilium/cilium --version 1.14.4 \ --namespace kube-system \ -f templates/cilium/cilium.yaml

You can, of course, also install an alternative CNI, e.g., calico.

note

There is a bug in Ubuntu that requires the older version of Cilium for this quickstart guide.

Deploy the CCM

Deploy HCloud Cloud Controller Manager - hcloud only

The following make command will install the CCM in your workload cluster:

make install-ccm-in-wl-cluster PRIVATE_NETWORK=false

For a cluster without a private network, use the following command:

shell

helm repo add hcloud https://charts.hetzner.cloud helm repo update hcloud KUBECONFIG=$CAPH_WORKER_CLUSTER_KUBECONFIG helm upgrade --install hccm hcloud/hcloud-cloud-controller-manager \ --namespace kube-system \ --set env.HCLOUD_TOKEN.valueFrom.secretKeyRef.name=hetzner \ --set env.HCLOUD_TOKEN.valueFrom.secretKeyRef.key=hcloud \ --set privateNetwork.enabled=false

Deploying the CSI (optional)

shell

cat << EOF > csi-values.yaml storageClasses: - name: hcloud-volumes defaultStorageClass: true reclaimPolicy: Retain EOF KUBECONFIG=$CAPH_WORKER_CLUSTER_KUBECONFIG helm upgrade --install csi syself/csi-hcloud --version 0.2.0 \ --namespace kube-system -f csi-values.yaml

Clean Up

Delete the workload cluster and remove all of the components by using:

shell

kubectl delete cluster my-cluster

IMPORTANT: In order to ensure a proper clean-up of your infrastructure, you must always delete the cluster object. Deleting the entire cluster template with the kubectl delete -f capi-quickstart.yaml command might lead to pending resources that have to be cleaned up manually.

Delete management cluster with the following command:

shell

kind delete cluster